The USA Through Other Eyes.

Here's the trip report for Nicholas. He arrived at O'Hare Airport in Chicago the Sunday before Thanksgiving. The first thing he said when I saw him was "thank you." He really couldn't believe that this long time dream had come true. The Customs Officers were welcoming and friendly to him- he said it was just a great start to his adventure. What a difference hospitality makes!

I met him with a winter coat and walked out into cold windy Chicago. That night it snowed, I woke him up and took him outside at 4:30 in the morning and we walked around the block while the snow fell. He really thought it was the oddest thing he had ever seen. After his month here and about 50" of snow he thought it was the most annoying thing he had ever seen!

He did lots of presentations, met lots of people, got to sit in Obama's seat in Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting room, walk through Times Square at 2:30 in the morning, see the Statue of Liberty. He sat down to Thanksgiving dinner with my family, played with Jack and Emma, discussed politics with Tim. He shopped for his family and even ate at McDonalds.

Things he found amazing: how accurate our weather forecasts are. "They say it's going to start snowing at 10 and it does!." The I pass, how good our roads are and how big the expressways are, computers in every exam room in the clinic where I work, rooms in our houses that we don't use, no internet cafes because everyone has access either at home, work or the library. Coming from a place where if the rains don't come people starve to death he was totally floored that we spray our vegetables in the produce section of the grocery store. Everything is on time.. in the Dc metro it even tells you that the next train will arrive in 2 minutes and it does! He found Americans friendly, welcoming, and pretty much clueless about Africa. He found the kids just like Kenyan kids, and loved spending time with them. Wake up in the morning and the newspaper is on your porch! (though who knows how long that will last!)

So fun to see my world through his eyes, as I saw his world.

More details next week about the kids' trip.